Turner Broadcasting plans to use this week’s CES consumer electronics confab in Las Vegas to promote its efforts to replace conventional commercials on its cable channels with ad-supported content lasting several minutes.

Turner Ad Sales will introduce clients to Turner Ignite, a new unit to be run by Content Partnerships head Dan Riess and Client Strategy & Ad Innovation head Michael Strober. It will combine several of Turner’s initiatives to keep advertisers from shifting dollars to digital platforms.

“While other companies separate their data and content teams, we believe it’s vital to bring them together, allowing advertisers to re-imagine the possibilities of advertising in one conversation,” Turner Ad Sales President Donna Speciale says.

One of the operations in Turner Ignite will be Turner Native Plus, which promotes so-called “native advertising” that blurs the line between commercials and content.

“Turner can produce longer-form branded content for a client or utilize the client’s existing and typically digital-based longform content that previously didn’t have a home on television,” the company says. “Turner Native Plus will extend storytelling into the commercial pod by developing the right environment for the client, increasing exposure to the brand, and as a result, driving higher [return on investment].”

Those attending the meetings with Turner had better brace themselves for a lot of impenetrable jargon and hype.

For example, the company says today that its meetings at CES will be “part of an ongoing approach to collaborate with clients and agencies through ideation-fueled discussions.”

Turner Ignite will “share with clients how they can keep one foot in today’s opportunities, while stepping another foot into tomorrow’s possibilities.”

They’ll also hear about Launchpad, a “first-of-its kind product” that “takes the influential branded content Turner creates for partners and launches it into social and beyond, using data and insights to maximize a brand’s effectiveness.”

5 Comments

S • on Jan 4, 2016 12:46 pm

Audiences do not like this. Audiences know the difference between advertisements and content. Native advertising is unethical and we will not regress as a society back to Texaco Variety Shows of the 40s.

Are you sure those discussions are ideation-fueled? This idea seems more fueled by something legal only in Colorado and Washington State.

cadavra • on Jan 4, 2016 2:05 pm

So it’s like “The Jack Benny Program,” where the Lucky Strike commercials were weaved into the show as songs or mini-sketches. (Remember Bogart singing “Be Happy, Go Lucky?”) Everything old is new again–only the “idea” people are unaware of it.

Long Winter • on Jan 4, 2016 3:58 pm

Well this is an idea that will get me to turn off my television in quick time!